Pneumatic conveyors are widely used today for transferring grain and other types of granular material. For example, such devices can be used for transferring grain from a storage silo to a delivery truck, a laborious and time-consuming task which was otherwise accomplished by shoveling. Such pneumatic conveyors generally include a cyclone separator having a tangential material inlet and a bottom axial material outlet. The suction side of a blower is connected to an axial air inlet in the top of the separator. The high pressure side of the blower in connected to a rotary valve which is connected between the material outlet of the separator and a discharge pipe connected to a line leading to the point of discharge. Such devices have been mounted for mobility and adapted for use with power take-off attachments on tractors to facilitate portability and use in unloading various silos on a farm, for example. In addition, the discharge pipes have been located at one of the corners of the frame for better access.
Pneumatic grain conveyors of this general type have been available for years under the name HANDLAIR from Christianson Systems, Inc. of Blomkest, Minn., the assignee hereof. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,433,946 and Des. 271,105.
Such pneumatic grain conveyors have been available in various capacities heretofore, but have required different frames depending upon the particular components involved. Thus, while some components were common between models of different capacities, separate frames were required which in turn increased inventory cost and manufacturing costs. Further, although the components of such pneumatic conveyors were generally arranged so that the material being conveyed could be discharged into an adjacent trailer or truck, they were not particularly arranged to facilitate maximum versatility and discharge over the widest possible area.
A need has thus arisen for a pneumatic grain conveyor having a universal frame which is interchangeable between models of different capacities having different components arranged to avoid unnecessary operational limitations for maximum versatility in discharging the grain into an adjacent truck or trailer.